Death has a way of prompting people to pick up a singer’s back catalogue, and so this week sees the inevitable Amy Winehouse memorial chart.  She’s at number 1 on the album chart with “Back To Black”, while debut album “Frank” reappears at 5, and the double-album combined reissue is at 10 – thus giving her three top ten albums even though she only made two.

But with plenty of songs to choose from, her singles sales have been split multiple ways.  And so it is that, unnoticed and largely unloved, JLS still get their scheduled number 1, with “She Makes Me Wanna.”

That’s a perfectly acceptable, if instantly forgettable, summer dance-pop single.  It’s also the only major release of the week, and the lead single from their third album, so it’s hardly surprising that it gives them their fifth number one.  JLS may have started off as runners-up from the X Factor, but it’s fair to say that they’ve evolved into legitimate stars in their own right.  (For a more debatable case, come back next week, when Cher Lloyd has a single out.  It’s, uh, certainly something we won’t forget in a hurry.)

I’m not quite sure what Dev is doing on this single, other than looking very out of place and thinking about the money.  But it’s first number one, beating her previous peak of number 5 with “Like a G6”.

What, then, of Amy Winehouse?

Well, she has five singles on this week’s top 40.  The biggest by quite some margin is “Back to Black” itself, which only made number 25 on its original release in four years ago, but now lands at number 8.  There are probably a combination of factors here – it’s the title track of her album, it’s a song people don’t own already, and it’s, let’s face it, creepily appropriate.  Especially with the video.

Further down the chart, number 27 is “Tears Dry On Their Own” (which originally made 16), number 29 is “Rehab” (originally 7), number 33 is “Love is a Losing Game” (unexpected – it’s the fifth single from “Back to Black”, which missed the top 40 on its original release) and number 37 is “You Know I’m No Good” (originally 18).

Notably absent from that list is her biggest hit “Valerie”.  It seems to have fallen victim to confusion over the two different versions.  The one everyone knows, and which reached number 2, is actually a guest vocal which she contributed to Mark Ronson’s album “Version”.  Consequently, it’s credited to “Mark Ronson featuring Amy Winehouse”.  It’s at number 45.  But there’s also an acoustic live version of the song which was the B-side to “Back to Black” and was later added to the deluxe edition of the album.  That one’s just credited to “Amy Winehouse”.  And it’s at number 41.  The combined sales of the two versions would plainly have made the top 40, but because of the different artist credits, they’re listed separately, and they both (just) miss the chart.

Other people also released singles last week!  But not many of them.

Number 16 is “Let Me Go” by Maverick Sabre.  Now there’s a name that leads you to expect something completely different from the record he’s actually made.  He also looks a bit out of place in his own video, bless him, as the director doggedly goes for Las Vegas glam despite being contractually obliged to include a bloke from Hackney.  This is his second hit, though it’s probably fair to say most people have already forgotten his guest appearance on “Jungle” by Professor Green (number 31 last December).

It’s a good record, though.  And before you ask, according to Wikipedia, that’s not a sample of Portishead’s 1995 classic “Glory Box”.  It’s a sample of the record they sampled – “Ike’s Rap 2” by Isaac Hayes – with a session singer re-enacting the chorus of “Glory Box”.  Which I guess must be cheaper.

Finally, number 34 is “Best Damn Night” by Six D, who describe themselves as “a brand new pop streetdance group”, but are basically a manufactured group who’ve been touring schools and supporting the likes of JLS and the Saturdays.  It’s fine for what it is.  But I see from the YouTube upload date that they’ve been promoting this single since May, so a number 34 debut (and a complete absence from the midweek charts) suggests there’s some work to do here.